Companies launch oral health disease management program

    Jan. 31, 2007
    MetLife and PreViser Corporation team up for effort.

    NEW YORK--MetLife and PreViser Corporation, a developer of patented oral health risk assessment software technology, have announced the launch of a new pilot program to help identify risks for periodontal disease.

    MetLife will provide dentists in the pilot program free access to PreViser's Oral Health Information Suite, an oral health risk assessment software, through the Web site portal, www.metdental.com, so they can more effectively treat their MetLife dental plan patients who are affected by, or at risk for, periodontal disease.

    Participants for the pilot program are a select group of dental practices and dentists from MetLife's Preferred Dentist Program--a nationwide network of more than 95,000 dentist locations.

    Dr. Alan Vogel, MetLife vice president and national dental director said, "As part of MetLife's ongoing efforts to provide innovative tools for improving the oral health of patients, we are pleased to introduce this disease management program with PreViser. We believe PreViser's technology and educational tools will help dentists work more effectively with their patients to combat the serious consequences of periodontal disease."

    "Importantly," Vogel added, "this joint initiative should provide measurable
    results to all stakeholders of the effectiveness of oral health disease management programs."

    PreViser Chief Executive Officer Carl Loeb stated, "We are excited to be working with MetLife, a recognized leader for its approach to oral health care, on such an important initiative. We look forward to introducing pilot program participants to the PreViser oral health risk assessment tool and the companion analysis reports to help them improve their patients' understanding of periodontal disease."

    The PreViser oral health risk assessment software, distinctive in the dental
    industry, enables a dentist to input information and determine a patient's
    risk score for developing periodontal disease.

    The tool also generates a score of the severity of the periodontal condition for those who already manifest symptoms. Knowing this information, dentists can then better develop a customized approach for preventing and/or treating periodontal disease conditions for individual patients.

    Patients also receive a personalized report that provides them with actionable suggestions to better address their periodontal care needs. It is anticipated that treatment results will improve with patients' increased understanding of their periodontal conditions, and these improvements can now be measured.

    Enhancing the periodontal health of patients is considered essential not only for oral health, but also because clinical studies have implicated periodontal disease as a complicating factor in other serious health problems including cardiovascular disease, diabetes and low birth weight babies.